§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Energy when he expects an agreement to be reached 106W between Her Majesty's Government and the European Commissioner over article 36 of Commission resolution 3227/76 concerning the application of nuclear safeguards to the Magnox spent fuel material balance area at Sellafield.
§ Mr. GoodladI expect to make an announcement shortly.
§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Energy why Her Majesty's Government instructed British Nuclear Fuels plc's safeguards staff not to answer detailed questions on safeguards during the official visit to Sellafield on 17 March by members of the European Parliament, Messrs. Llewellyn, Smith and Amedee Turner.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerNo instructions were given by my Department that BNFL should not answer questions by Members of the European Parliament. However, the Department and BNFL agreed that it would not be appropriate for the company to answer questions on the detail of the discussions which have been taking place between Euratom and the United Kingdom, as these are confidential.